Caste System

I don't have children so I haven't paid close attention to the educational system. I pay my taxes with fashionable grumbling, but I'm actually gratified to help support schools I believe are receiving equitable funding, equipment and staff to provide quality education to students, no matter what their circumstances. To me, creating this level playing field is one of the beauties of America. Now I'm reading that the field isn't level after all. Some schools are better than...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Western powers called on North Korea on Thursday to dismantle its political prison camps and a caste system that ranks citizens based on family loyalty to the ruling dynasty. North Korea defended its human rights record in a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, continuing to deny the existence of such camps, believed to hold up to 120,000 inmates. The Rights Council examined the record of the Democratic People's Republic...

* North Korea divides citizens into three classes * Family background, political loyalty determine fortunes * Privileges for loyalists, punishments for hostile class By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - A caste system under which North Korea ranks its citizens based on their family's political background and punishes those deemed disloyal to the leadership underpins the country's human rights abuses, according to a study published on...

Setting aside concerns about stereotypes and socioeconomics for a moment, it's fascinating how much "Devious Maids" -- from "Desperate Housewives" producer Marc Cherry and one of its stars, Eva Longoria -- resembles their last collaboration, for mostly good and some ill. Set in motion by a mysterious death, the soapy series focuses on a handful of women struggling to get by, the twist here being their bond plays out during breaks gossiping about their...

I was happy to see an article in the Chicagoland section recently about the exclusive practices of banks, (report of the Coalition for Political Honesty). Mr. Quinn's statement about the development of a caste system in banking practices reflects my own experience. As a volunteer tutor at a church in downtown Chicago, I wanted my tutee to get experience with saving and managing money. She is a 16-year-old girl from Cabrini Green, and had earned some money over the summer. We could not find one...

It's summer movie season, which means distribs are scrambling to attach trailers for their big fall releases to maximum-exposure tentpoles. Amid all that long-distance hype drops a new extended trailer for "Elysium," an August release with relatively little awareness, hoping to muscle up the anticipation factor with 197 seconds of stunning dystopian-future intrigue. Though the MPAA caps trailers at 150 seconds, each studio is allowed one "overtime" exception a year, and TriStar has...

During mass, Rev. Socorso Mendes asks the Lord to enlighten those among his flock who insist some Christians are more equal than others simply because they were born into a higher caste. The young priest is trying to avert a war between fellow Catholics in this drowsy little town wedged between palm groves and rice paddies and situated in Goa, a region converted to Christianity by the Portuguese--with help from their swords and the racks of the Inquisition--and annexed by India...

Labeling schools In the controversy over school closings, we often hear the term "failing" as a reason for closing a school. The use of this term is both degrading and insulting to the students, teachers and parents of those schools. A school is a reflection of the people in the school, most notably the students. If those students come to school lacking the skills and incentives that facilitate learning and fail to achieve certain scores on a test, they do not deserve to be demeaned with the...

Regarding the article "India's rocky democracy changes course" (Main news, June 7): In explaining what is taking place with the new government, Michael A. Lev makes derogatory comments about the caste system. He uses phrases such as "ancient and discriminatory caste system" and states Brahmans as being "high caste" and untouchables being "regarded so low on the social scale they technically don't have a caste." While it is true that the caste system has started to become such, it is not the way it was meant to...

* North Korea divides citizens into three classes * Family background, political loyalty determine fortunes * Privileges for loyalists, punishments for hostile class By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - A caste system under which North Korea ranks its citizens based on their family's political background and punishes those deemed disloyal to the leadership underpins the country's human rights abuses, according to a study published on...

I warmly congratulate you on your "American millstone" series. It deserves a Pulitzer Prize. I`ll not trouble you with a long discourse of why I think like I do--just a few comments. I`ve seen the world and I think we are developing our own caste system as in India. Without population control, all of your proposals will fail. When the underclass base grows faster than can be educated or absorbed into the economy, the situation will worsen. The solution, in part, is to penalize economically those who...

I don't have children so I haven't paid close attention to the educational system. I pay my taxes with fashionable grumbling, but I'm actually gratified to help support schools I believe are receiving equitable funding, equipment and staff to provide quality education to students, no matter what their circumstances. To me, creating this level playing field is one of the beauties of America. Now I'm reading that the field isn't level after all. Some schools are better than...

Your June 23 news story about the plight of the poor "washer persons" in India in the wake of government's economic development programs rightly focuses on India's social problems engendered in its caste system ("Traditional jobs washed away in modern India," Main news). The caste system among Hindus--India's majority population--evolved in ancient times, perhaps as a workable social arrangement to meet the needs of the smaller society in those days. But is it certainly unfortunate that this...

During mass, Rev. Socorso Mendes asks the Lord to enlighten those among his flock who insist some Christians are more equal than others simply because they were born into a higher caste. The young priest is trying to avert a war between fellow Catholics in this drowsy little town wedged between palm groves and rice paddies and situated in Goa, a region converted to Christianity by the Portuguese--with help from their swords and the racks of the Inquisition--and annexed by India...

It's summer movie season, which means distribs are scrambling to attach trailers for their big fall releases to maximum-exposure tentpoles. Amid all that long-distance hype drops a new extended trailer for "Elysium," an August release with relatively little awareness, hoping to muscle up the anticipation factor with 197 seconds of stunning dystopian-future intrigue. Though the MPAA caps trailers at 150 seconds, each studio is allowed one "overtime" exception a year, and TriStar has...

Not so long ago, a Chicago professional woman stopped off at a business meeting on her way to the office. When she arrived at her work cubicle a couple of hours later, she found her desk occupied by a large man overflowing his dingy T-shirt. Arrayed before him were the remains of his Kentucky Fried Chicken lunch. With greasy morsels of fried chicken flesh still clinging to his beard, the man - a low-ranking member of the office support staff - was engaged in an animated conversation.

Setting aside concerns about stereotypes and socioeconomics for a moment, it's fascinating how much "Devious Maids" -- from "Desperate Housewives" producer Marc Cherry and one of its stars, Eva Longoria -- resembles their last collaboration, for mostly good and some ill. Set in motion by a mysterious death, the soapy series focuses on a handful of women struggling to get by, the twist here being their bond plays out during breaks gossiping about their...

Your June 23 news story about the plight of the poor "washer persons" in India in the wake of government's economic development programs rightly focuses on India's social problems engendered in its caste system ("Traditional jobs washed away in modern India," Main news). The caste system among Hindus--India's majority population--evolved in ancient times, perhaps as a workable social arrangement to meet the needs of the smaller society in those days. But is it certainly unfortunate that this...